İlkay Gündoğan returns to Manchester to complete Manchester City’s comeback from Barcelona. Gündoğan led Manchester City to the treble in 2023 before moving to Barcelona, but now he’s set to make an emotional return to the Etihad Stadium just a year later.
Gündoğan has returned to the UK to finalize his heartfelt comeback to Manchester City. He’s rejoining City on a free transfer from Barcelona after the Spanish giants agreed to terminate his contract to remove him from their wage bill. Despite being 33 years old, Gündoğan didn’t even consider offers from Turkey and Saudi Arabia as he was so determined to re-sign with City. The midfielder, who recently retired from international football for Germany, will undergo his medical on Thursday and is expected to sign a one-year deal with an option to extend for another 12 months. Gündoğan should complete his transfer in time to be available for City’s match against Ipswich at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
However, he was left out of Barcelona’s squad in their opening La Liga win against Valencia on Saturday, and City may want to give him more time to regain full fitness before bringing him back into action. He was part of Barcelona’s preseason preparations and last played for them in a loss to Monaco in the Joan Gamper Trophy on August 12. Gündoğan left City on a free transfer 14 months ago after leading them to a historic treble and signing a two-year deal worth over £300,000 a week with the Catalan club.
He shone for Barcelona last season, scoring five goals and contributing 13 assists, proving he’s still at the top of his game and seizing the chance to return to the Etihad. He spoke with Pep Guardiola about coming back, and there was no doubt in his mind about returning.
City will now focus on finding a striker to replace Julián Álvarez, who joined Atlético Madrid for £82 million, but they’ll only move if they feel the deal is right. They’ve been linked with Celtic’s Japanese star Kyogo Furuhashi, but it’s understood that no decision has been made and no player has been identified.
Gündoğan is set to return to Manchester City from Barcelona (Photo: Eamonn and James Clarke).
In a social media post announcing the end of his international career, Gündoğan explained: “After a few weeks of reflection, I’ve come to the conclusion that the time has come to end my career with the national team. I look back with great pride at the 82 caps I earned for my country—a number I never dreamed of reaching when I made my debut for the national team in 2011.
“Clearly, the highlight for me is the immense honor of leading the team as captain during the European Championship on home soil last summer! After all those years, we finally made the nation proud again, and being able to contribute to that fills me with great joy.
“But in the lead-up to the tournament, I began to feel a certain fatigue, both physically and mentally, which gave me pause for reflection.” The matches at both club and international levels never stopped.”